


The Love We Share

by loonyBibliophile



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-08
Updated: 2014-04-08
Packaged: 2018-01-18 15:10:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1433041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loonyBibliophile/pseuds/loonyBibliophile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At age eleven, Fitz and Simmons make a promise. Fourteen years later, neither has forgotten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Love We Share

****_If we're both not married by twenty-two_  
Could I be so bold and ask you?  
If we're both not married by twenty-three  
Will you make my year, and ask me?  
  
If we're both not married by twenty-four  
Will you pass me those knee pads and I'll get on the floor  
If we're both not married by twenty-five  
I hope that there's some childish spark still alive  


Jemma Simmons is eleven years old. Her life is consumed by a love of science and all things alive, Lego sets, Disney movies, skinning her knees trying to climb the trees in her yard, and her best friend Leo Fitz. Leo Fitz is also eleven years old, and prefers robots and machines to living things that aren't dogs or Jemma, he shares her love of Legos and Disney movies, even the girly ones, but he would rather disassemble his dad's alarm clock for the tenth time than climb a tree, and frankly it makes him nervous when Jemma does it. Even as a child he starts carrying bandaids everywhere, in case she hurts herself. 

"Do you think its like that in real life?" Jemma asks, hanging her head off of the edge of Leo's bed, her feet resting against his wall while he sits on the floor, a half assembled model car in front of him.

"Hm?" he looks up at her, and she points at the television, which is playing the ending of the movie The Little Mermaid. "Well, I doubt mermaids are real, if that's what ya mean." Jemma rolls her eyes and smacks the back of his head.

"You dolt, you know it isn't. I meant, you know. Love. Do you think it's that fast? Do you just... see someone and know?"

"I reckon for some people it is."

"I wonder if I'll ever fall in love."

" 'Course you will, Jem." Leo rolled his eyes and stared up at her "Just don't go givin' up your vocal chords for any strange sailors ya hear?" he grinned.

"As if!" she scoffed. "I'd never give up my voice for a MAN, or anybody for that matter."

"Ah, of course. Far too practical and bright for that."

"Of course. Obviously." she smiled broadly and Leo shook his head. They were both quiet while the movie ended and the credits rolled.

"Leo?"

"Yeah?"

"What if neither of us ever finds anybody?"

"What do you mean?" he didn't look up from the tiny wheel he was trying to assemble.

"I mean, you and I both know we're not exactly normal."

"Well obviously. We're geniuses, Jem. I reckon you're the only person I've ever met who's as smart as I am."

"Exactly. What if we never meet other people who understand us like we do?"

That gave Leo pause. He set down the tube of glue he was holding and leaned back and looked toward Jemma thoughtfully. She had a point. He didn't have many friends other than Jemma, nor she outside of him. And certainly no one he was as close to. Leo, personally, thought of Jemma as closer to him than his own brothers. It had never occurred to him that he might never meet anyone else like that. 

"Well, then I suppose we'd have to marry each other." he said, half jokingly.

"We could, you know. People do that. Make pacts that if they aren't married by a certain time, they'll just marry each other. We could make one. I can think of worse people to marry than you."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Why not? We're best friends. I understand you, you understand me." 

"What if we don't stay friends that long?" Jemma rolled her eyes and looked at him. Leo laughed and nodded. "Yeah, yeah okay. You're right, stupid question. So what age? Twenty two? Twenty three?"

"Mm, no, too young. Twenty five maybe?"

"Twenty five it is. Your birthday's later than mine, so let's go with by your 25th birthday, if we're both single, we get married." he stuck his pinkie out so she could wrap hers around it. Leo and Jemma made pinkie promises about anything and everything, be it big things like this, or little things like remembering what they planned to do the next do. She nodded.

"Twenty five it is." she echoed, as her pinkie shook his.

* * *

 

Jemma Simmons is sixteen years old. Her life is consumed by schoolwork, graduation preparations, the same love of science that drove her as a small child, the same love of Disney movies, though she is quieter about it now, and her best friend Leo Fitz. Leo Fitz, also sixteen, still prefers machines to anything that isn't Jemma, a dog, and sometimes cats, he pretends not to like the Disney movies Jemma drags him to but he secretly does and he is very glad, after watching her break an arm at age thirteen, that his best friend no longer climbs trees. However, he still carries bandaids around. Just to be safe. 

Leo's phone rings on a Saturday afternoon, the tune of 'You Got A  Friend In Me', from Toy Story. 

"Hey, Jem." he answers, his tone tinged with confusion. "What's up?"

"Are you home?" there's a sniffle in her voice. 

"Yeah, why? Shouldn't you be enjoying date night?"

"I would be, if Mike hadn't just dumped me."

"That bastard. Do you want me to rough him up?" she snickered on the other end "Or, uh, make a machine to do it since I'm about as intimidating as a pug in a bad mood." 

"That's alright, but thank you, Leo. Can I come over?"

"Of course. My mum is home, do you want me to ask her to make you anything?"

"No, it's fine, she wouldn't have time." 

"What? Jemma, the park is at least a twenty minute walk from my flat."

"Yes, I know. But I'm not at the park." 

"Oh, then where are you? Does mum need to come get you? I'm sure she would." 

"No, no. I'm uh. Well, I'm in your driveway." 

"You're ridiculous. Come inside, I'm in my room."

Moments later, Jemma navigated the familiar detritus of Leo's messy room, walking carefully around various bits and pieces of random machinery and blue prints and any number of other objects. She flopped onto his bed, pulling her knees up her her chin and staring at his patchwork quilt. Leo tucked himself between Jemma and the wall and she rested her head on his shoulder. 

"You wanna talk about it?" he kept his voice low. 

"He just said he thought we were 'in different places', and he's not necessarily wrong, and I know we'd probably have broken up when I left for university with you anyway, but it still smarts, you know? Like being told you're not good enough to put in the effort. As silly as that sounds." 

"That's not silly at all Jem. You deserve someone who puts in the effort." he wraps an arm around her shoulders and hugs her into his side. "Besides, worst comes to worst, ya always got me remember? You've got nine years to muck around before you end up stuck with me for the rest of yer life." he smiled playfully and Jemma laughed quietly. 

"I can think of worse things." she said softly. 

They fell into comfortable silence for awhile, as they tended to. That had always been the nature of their friendship, going from talking non-stop with the ease only gained in knowing someone most of their life, to companionable silence. Neither said what they were thinking for some time. Jemma was caught up in thoughts of the white lie she'd told her best friend. It wasn't untrue, what she'd said. It simply wasn't the only reason he'd given. The other had been her, to use his words, unhealthy obsession with her best friend. She wondered, idly, if it wasn't to some extent jealousy. if Mike hadn't simply been able to read the feeling for Leo that Jemma hid so neatly under years of friendship and fear of changing what worked so well. Leo was preoccupied with the thought that he really would like to knock Mike Lawrence upside the head, just once, for causing Jemma any pain, however minute or necessary. He also thought about how he wouldn't mind kissing her, but this was neither the time or place, so he settled for squeezing her tighter, until he felt her shoulders lose some of their tenseness. 

"Best friends forever, right?" she said, her voice quiet, sticking out her pinkie. 

"Forever and a day, Jem. Forever and a day." he nodded, wrapping his own pinkie around hers and rubbing her back with his other hand. 

* * *

 

Jemma Simmons is 21 years old, and her life is consumed by finishing her first doctorate in biochemistry, late nights in her flat watching Disney movies to unwind from stressful classes, and, as always, Leo Fitz, the best friend she no longer bothers telling herself she isn't in love with. Leo Fitz is 21 years old, and spends most of his time finishing his engineering doctorate, trying not to accidentally set his flat on fire, unwinding in front of the television on late nights with Disney movies and Jemma, who is still his best friend and whose smile and laugh he lives and breathes for. He still worries about her, incessantly, because she works with dangerous chemicals and almost never gets enough sleep. 

"Oh, good, you're home!" Jemma said brightly as Leo swung the front door open "Anna came by, I told her you were at an extra credit lecture." Leo groaned as he hung his coat on the hook behind the door. 

"I should really break things off with her." 

"Why's that? You seem to like her." 

"I don't have the time. I'm almost done with my doctorate, so I've got my thesis to finish, and all these classes, and I just. I don't have time to date. Dating is not important." the tone of his voice told Jemma all she needed to know, and that was that she should drop the issue. So she did. 

"I'm making soup and sandwiches for dinner. Prosciutto sandwiches and potato and leek soup." 

"Jemma Simmons you are an angel sent down from heaven." he grabbed her by the shoulders, and for a brief, electric moment, she thought he might kiss her. But he let go, and the moment passed, and she chuckled and went back to stirring the aioli for their sandwiches. "Do you want to watch a movie?"

"Sure. Something serious, or something fun?"

"Something fun, for sure. My professor gave a lecture about consequences of the nuclear age today and while it was interesting, god, it was a downer. Disney?"

"Leo, I am always up for a Disney movie, don't you know me at all?" she stuck her tongue out at him from the small nook of the kitchen. 

"Better than anyone, you twit." he laughed, sorting through their DVD collection. "Atlantis?"

"Oh, that sounds perfect! The soup should be done in a few minutes."

The soup finished and dished out, and the sandwiches made and plated, the best friends settled into the sofa, food balanced precariously in their laps as they leaned against each other and began playing the movie. 

"So you really want to break up with Anna?" Jemma asked, about forty five minutes into the movie. She didn't feel Leo tense beside her so she assumed she was okay to broach the subject again. Leo nodded. 

"Yeah. She's nice and all, and I do like her, but I really am busy. And besides, the free time I do have I'd... never mind." he blushed suddenly, shaking his head. 

"Oh come on, Leo, out with it." she nudged him without lifting her head from where it settled between his neck and shoulder. 

"Oi, fine. I'd rather spend my free time like this anyway." he waved a hand around, indicating their position on the sofa. Jemma smiled. 

"If you spend all your time with another woman, Leo, no one's going to want to marry you and you're going to end up making good at that promise we made when we were eleven." Jemma said with a laugh as she rolled her eyes. 

"Is that so bad? After all, you can cook." he stuck his tongue out and Jemma scoffed, sitting up to shove him. 

"You prat!" she narrowed her eyes, but she was laughing as she said it. As she collapsed into his side, letting his arms draw her closer, both of them still laughing, there was another moment like the one in the kitchen when she'd thought he might kiss her, but just like before it passed. But a serious mood settled over them, somehow. "Do you think we'll always be this close?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't we be?" Leo frowned, looking down at her. 

"I don't know. Life. Significant others. Jobs." 

"Jem, you're my number one. Always." he shook his head, smiling softly. "Promise me ye won't forget that?" he said, his voice low as he extended her his pinkie. 

"I promise." she said with a solemn nod, wrapping her pinkie into his and letting herself lean back into the sofa. "And you're my number one too, you know."

"I know."

* * *

 

Jemma Simmons is twenty four, turning twenty five in less than twenty four hours. She is in the middle of her second doctorate, this time in physical medicine, she still watches Disney movies to unwind, and she is still in love with her best friend Leo Fitz. Leo Fitz is twenty five, studying for a doctorate in computer programming, and spends every night at home trying not to kiss his best friend silly. 

"Come on, Jem, get dressed, we're going out." 

"But Leeeeeeeo." she looked up at him, pouting. "I'm tired." 

"Tomorrow is your birthday, and I hav class so we can't go out then, so we are going out now, so get up or so help me I will carry you out of the door." he smiled, in a pleasantly crooked way, and Jemma rolled her eyes and sighed. 

"Alright, alright. Give me fifteen minutes." she stood and went into her room, closing the door behind her.

"Wear something nice!" Leo called through the door, as he fidgeted with his collar in the hallway mirror. He patted his pants pockets, just to make sure he had Jemma's birthday gift, and checked the time on the heavy gold watch her wore, a present from Jemma for his 25th birthday a few months before.

"Good enough?" she asked, walking out of her room with a gentle grin. She was wearing a plain dark blue dress he just barely recognized, and a gold necklace he definitely recognized, since he'd given it to her a few years before. Her hair was down. She looked, as always, utterly stunning. 

"Perfect." he grinned back and nodded.

"Where are we going that I need to dress up?" she raised an eyebrow as they walked out onto the sidewalk. 

"Nowhere, really. It just struck me as a dressy occasion." he smirked and Jemma punched his shoulder playfully. But she followed along beside him in contented silence, letting him lead the way. She quirked her head as they neared a playground in a neighborhood near their university. 

"I'm turning twenty five and you bring me to a playground?"

"We met on a playground. Not this one, of course, I couldn't afford to fly us home to go to that one. But we did, we met on a playground when we were seven years old, and you fell off of the swings. And I took you to the convenience store on the corner and found you bandaids, and in thanks, you gave me a ring from the coin machine outside the store."

"That's right! Gosh, I'd almost forgotten." she smiled softly and settled onto the swings, and Leo sat down onto the swing next to hers. 

"We've known each other nearly nineteen years. Strange, innit?"

"Strange at not strange. I'm glad it's been you I've spent it with." she smiled at him. He fought the urge to blush and cleared his throat. 

"So. Twenty five. Tomorrow's a big day for you. I'm not sure if you remember," he smirked, a distinctly mischievous twinkle in his eye "but when you were eleven you made a promise to your tosser of a best friend." his expression urged her to play along.

"Oh, did I?" she raised an eyebrow. 

"Yep. If you aren't married by twenty five, you get stuck with him forever. You pinkie promised him, so it's ironclad." 

"Oh dear, that is quite serious." 

"I think I know a way out of it, though. If you're willing?" Leo's tone grew more serious, and Jemma looked at him oddly, sitting up straighter. 

"You do?"

"It's simple." he said with a nod, stepping out of the swing. He pulled Jemma up to a standing position. "All you have to do," he said as he placed her hands by her sides, slipped his own inside his pocket, pulling something into his palm, and swiftly lowering himself to one knee. "is agree to marry me." he peered up at her hopefully, and it took her a moment to recognize what he was holding. It was the cheap ring she'd given him the day they met, only with extra metal grated onto it to make it larger. Jemma blinked rapidly, her eyes filled with tears. Leo balked. "I.. I'm sorry. I shouldn't hav-" Jemma cut him off, shaking her head and motioning him to stand. He did, looking puzzled. 

"Of course I'll marry you, idiot." she took the ring, slipping it onto her finger. She shook her head, laughing. "I can't believe you kept this thing."

"Of course I kept it. It reminded me of you." he pulled her face to his and kissed her softly, winding his fingers into her hair like he'd done a thousand times before, but it was so much nicer to do it as he kissed her. 

"I love you." she said softly "I pinkie promise." she smiled, leaning into him and extending her pinkie. He smiled. 

"I love you too. Pinkie promise." he wrapped his pinkie around hers and kissed her again.


End file.
